Black Airbnb Guests Are Taking Legal Action Against Police After They Were Stopped on Suspicion of Burglary

After the publication of this report about a group of black Airbnb customers being stopped by police due to a call from a neighbor who thought they were robbing the home they were staying in, the police department in Rialto, California, sent a statement to Teen Vogue about its involvement in the incident. The release also identified one of the Airbnb guests questioned as Donisha Prendergast, the granddaughter of legendary Jamaican singer Bob Marley.

"Officers responded to the location and immediately established a perimeter while the people drove away. Officers stopped the vehicle and established contact with the occupants," the report states. "One of the occupants identified herself as Donisha Prendergast, and granddaughter of singer/songwriter Bob Marley."

Prendergast and the other guests are now taking legal action against the police department, according to the department's press release and an email from Prendergast's manager. "We have been advised by legal counsel to hold off on scheduling any interview until after the press release and a longer video of the incident is distributed tomorrow morning," Patricia Scarlett, Prendergast's manager, told Teen Vogue.

The group was staying in an unlicensed Airbnb when an older white woman made a call to police of a burglary in progress, according to police. The encounter with police lasted about 22 minutes, during which time the group was detained following the call. Officers called off a helicopter that had been dispatched before it arrived on scene. Rialto police lieutenant Dean P. Hardin told Teen Vogue that none of the individuals were handcuffed during the incident.

"The Rialto Police Department takes every complaint of misconduct seriously and investigates thoroughly," the police statement said. "In this matter, officers followed departmental policies and procedures in handling this reported in-progress residential burglary call and we are very appreciative of the cooperation shown by its residents and visitors." The release notes that the department was served with a notification of pending legal action on May 7.

The department was one of the early implementers of body cameras, which officers had on scene and were recording during the incident, according to the department release.

A video of California police officers reportedly approaching four Airbnb guests has gone viral after one of the guests, a black woman, posted her account of the exchange on Facebook.

The woman, Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, shared the story of how, on April 30, she was leaving an Airbnb in California around 11:00 a.m. when seven police cars arrived. Officers at the scene reportedly told the group that they were responding to a call about a possible robbery, which Fyffe-Marshall alleges came from a neighbor who lived near the house where her group was staying.

Officers told the group to put their hands in the air and reportedly said that there was a helicopter overhead. From video camera footage, the officers on scene appear to be from the Rialto, California, police department. (Teen Vogue has reached out to the Rialto police department for comment.)

“They locked down the neighborhood and had us standing in the street,” Fyffe-Marshall said on Facebook. “Why? A neighbor across the street saw 3 black people packing luggage into their car and assumed we were stealing from the house. She then called the police.”

Fyffe-Marshall said at first everyone found humor in the misunderstanding until a police sergeant arrived. Fyffe-Marshall wrote, “He explained they didn’t know what Airbnb was. He insisted that we were lying about it and said we had to prove it.”

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“We showed them the booking confirmations and phoned the landlord,” she wrote, “because they didn’t know what she looked like on the other end to confirm it was her... they detained us — because they were investigating a felony charge — for 45 minutes while they figured it out.” The group later found out that the neighbor had allegedly called police because they did not wave to her as they were bringing their luggage to the car and leaving.

Airbnb spokesman Nick Papas told Teen Vogue that what happened to the guests was “unconscionable.”

“Last week, after becoming aware of the issue, we reached out to the victims of this terrible incident to express our sympathy and full support,” he said in a statement.

The incident is the latest in a string of news reports of black individuals having the police called on them for staying in an Airbnb or for simply walking around a suburban neighborhood. In 2016, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported a similar incident of cops being called on black guests staying in an Airbnb.

D.C. rapper Stefan Grant was staying in an Airbnb with four guests when officers arrived at their Airbnb after receiving a report of a robbery.

“One of the neighbors was not aware the home had been rented out for the weekend,” Major S.R. Fore, a DeKalb County police spokesman, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “They saw several people in the home and called the police to report a possible burglary in progress.”

Airbnb decided to speak out against discrimination on its service after reports revealed discrimination against guests. Harvard University released a paper in 2015 that found that Airbnb guests with “distinctively African-American names” were 16% less likely to be accepted compared to guests with white-sounding names.

Airbnb has since been working on fighting instances of bias like the reported incident in California last week. “We encourage anyone in similar situations to contact us,” Papas said in a statement to Teen Vogue. “We are also reaching out to our partners at the NAACP, National Action Network, Color Of Change, and others to discuss this matter and ensure we are doing all we can to protect our community when they travel.”